Against a deep blue, backlit stage, Vicky Chow sat at the baby grand in the Scheuer Auditorium at the Jewish Museum on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in April 2017, flanked by forty speakers hanging from stands. For an uninterrupted hour, she played dizzying sequences of interlocking melodies against a latticework of pulse tones. The pieceContinue reading “Vicky Chow Is Just Warming Up”
Article Type Archives
Tate Carson’s Before, I wandered as a diversion
Tate Carson is a composer and upright bassist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Before, I wandered as a diversion (2016), for clarinet and live electronics, won second prize in Musicworks’ 2016 electronic music composition contest. Listen to the full piece, streaming on this page. Here’s what Carson has to say about this beautiful composition: “This pieceContinue reading “Tate Carson’s Before, I wandered as a diversion”
Cerro Bellavista Rooftop, Valparaíso
When rain falls, it falls into the open-air stairwell unopposed, rattling metal banisters and pattering on tile. Human sounds congeal below you like wet papier-mâché: gentle voices ricocheting around the stucco walls; kids’ laughter bubbling out of an open window; loose sandals slapping themselves silly on the stairs. A flute that’s been carving filigree inContinue reading “Cerro Bellavista Rooftop, Valparaíso”
Eighty-five scores celebrate Pauline Oliveros
Still Listening: New Works in Honour of Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) is a project initially conceived to mark Oliveros’ eighty-fifth birthday on May 30, 2017. Eighty-five artists were invited to create eighty-five new compositions, each with a duration of eighty-five seconds. Organized by trumpeter Eric Lewis and flutist Ellen Waterman, with help from McGill University studentsContinue reading “Eighty-five scores celebrate Pauline Oliveros”
Musicworks’ 2017 Summer Festival Preview
Some of my most cherished experiences happened at summer music festivals—from scanning the schedules and planning the road trips to meeting new friends and, of course, identifying new musicians and artists. Here at Musicworks, we’re discovering more must-see festivals and events every day, and are inspired by the organizations dedicated to bringing artists and listenersContinue reading “Musicworks’ 2017 Summer Festival Preview”
The Piano and Erhu Project Expands the Repertoire
“Let’s begin with a short history of this instrument,” says Nicole Ge Li, in a video shot at the Vancouver offices of the Canadian Music Centre. She’s speaking to a roomful of composers, gathered there to learn more about writing for PEP (Piano and Erhu Project), her joint undertaking with the man who’s just introducedContinue reading “The Piano and Erhu Project Expands the Repertoire”
Bret Parenteau widens the loop
When Bret Parenteau’s name is attached to a release or performance, those familiar with his music find themselves wondering what kind of intensity the Winnipeg artist is unleashing this time. His work ranges through harsh noise, urban field recordings, and looping synth sounds, but the only way to find out which spices are in theContinue reading “Bret Parenteau widens the loop”
Sarah Davachi flies into psychoacoustic space
One could say that Sarah Davachi’s drone-based music is all about meditative states, or texture, or duration. But more than anything else, it’s about balance—between the theoretical and the practical, the material and the cerebral, the antique and the avant-garde, the electronic and the purely acoustic. Barons Court (Students of Decay), Davachi’s first vinyl release,Continue reading “Sarah Davachi flies into psychoacoustic space”
Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m
Ice cracking and melting; a forest by the coast; a dream; breath lingering in the cold air—these are some of the images that come to mind when listening to Vancouver composer Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m, the first-prize-winning composition in Musicworks’ 2016 annual Electronic Music Composition contest. An absorbing, ethereal work of shimmering organic tones andContinue reading “Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m”
Tom Wayman’s “Elemental Musics: Selkirk Mountains”
1. ARIA Alpine wind in the stunted firs half whispers an austere wistfulness with overtones of regret at being compelled by a harsh landscape to be mercilessly forthright: a breathy flute-note surging and fading as the mountain exhales inhales 2. SONATA The susurrous crescendo rises amid the crowns of tall birch, cedar, pine,Continue reading “Tom Wayman’s “Elemental Musics: Selkirk Mountains””
All-Set! Editions: Essentially Not Jazz
Dapper Toronto imprint All-Set! Editions may be a newcomer to the subterranean ecosystem of experimental music distribution, but it already has a clearer sense of self than other more established labels. It’s spearheaded by a trio of composer-players, multi-instrumentalist Mike Smith, bassist Pete Johnston and pianist Ali Berkok. Its identity can’t easily be articulated inContinue reading “All-Set! Editions: Essentially Not Jazz”
MUSICWORKS UNVEILS 2016 CONTEST WINNERS
MUSICWORKS UNVEILS 2016 CONTEST WINNERS Vancouver musician Craig Aalders and B.C. poet Tom Wayman win top marks in Musicworks’ 2016 Electronic Music Composition and Sonic Geography Writing Contests For the first time in Musicworks contest history, both top prizes go to British Columbia artists. For immediate release: TORONTO, CANADA, February 14, 2017—Musicworks is thrilled toContinue reading “MUSICWORKS UNVEILS 2016 CONTEST WINNERS”
Plumes Deconstructs Grimes
Many Visions: Plumes Deconstructs the Music of Grimes is a genre-spanning music collaboration that seeks to explore and ultimately blur the lines between classical and pop. Thirteen contemporary classical composers have been asked to reimagine and rework the thirteen tracks on Grimes’ 2012 album Visions in, as it were, their own vision. The new works—byContinue reading “Plumes Deconstructs Grimes”
Between Folklore and the Future: The Music of Heidi Chan
Heidi Chan began combining her passions for arranging, technology, and traditional instruments when her father gave her a demo version of the music software program Cakewalk. “Because it was a demo version, I couldn’t save anything,” she recalls. “So I had to leave the computer on for, like, months and months to keep working onContinue reading “Between Folklore and the Future: The Music of Heidi Chan”
Michael Red’s Low Indigo
Michael Red has been an in-demand DJ and producer since the 1990s, when he was a key instigator of Vancouver’s jungle and drum-and-bass scenes. He presented hugely popular underground events featuring beats you couldn’t hear elsewhere. He became a regular on Western Canada’s electronic-music festival scene, and still spends summers away from his Vancouver homeContinue reading “Michael Red’s Low Indigo”
Carmen Braden Raises the Volume on the Subarctic
“I’M JUST GOING TO TOUCH IT ON THE TOP,” SAYS CARMEN BRADEN, LOOKING AT A BLACKENED PORCUPINE-LIKE LUMP OF ICE. “WHAT I THINK WILL HAPPEN: IT’S JUST GOING TO FALL APART. READY?” It’s May 2014, and she’s talking to a camera. Her now-husband, Eli Purchase, is filming her on the banks of the Mackenzie RiverContinue reading “Carmen Braden Raises the Volume on the Subarctic”
The Material Soundscapes of Roarke Menzies
On a Sunday afternoon this past June I visited Outlet Fine Art, one of many independent galleries and performance spaces that have popped up in and around the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bushwick in recent years. I was there to attend a performance by sound artist Roarke Menzies, the second in his series of appearances inContinue reading “The Material Soundscapes of Roarke Menzies”
Daniel Blinkhorn’s frostbYte—wildflower [ONLINE EXCLUSIVE]
Daniel Blinkhorn is an Australian composer and sound and new-media artist currently residing in Sydney. He has worked in a variety of creative, academic, research, and teaching contexts. An ardent location field recordist, he has embarked on many recording expeditions; his sonic travels have taken him throughout Africa, Alaska, the Amazon, the West Indies, NorthernContinue reading “Daniel Blinkhorn’s frostbYte—wildflower [ONLINE EXCLUSIVE]”
Ocean Bug and Bird Songs
BORN CONFUSED. FLY AT LIGHT. Tonight you June bugs pelt my office window in a relentless barrage—desperate wings fanning air that will not hold and tap-tap-tap-tap-tap on the glass. I turn off the lights, sneak outside, guide you through the yard by the glow of my phone. A conductor of insects. Flap-flap-flap-flap-flap. We serenade eachContinue reading “Ocean Bug and Bird Songs”
Public Recordings’ what we are saying
“Is being together possible?” The first words spoken in what we are saying, a sound–dance piece by the Toronto-based experimental performance company Public Recordings, have a disruptive effect—an abrupt imposition of language into an initially wordless and ambient sound environment, presenting the basis for what’s to come: a language-propelled choreography of sounds, bodies, objects, andContinue reading “Public Recordings’ what we are saying”
The Shapeshifting Sounds of Gabriel Dharmoo
After experiencing Anthropologies Imaginaires, it’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago Gabriel Dharmoo, its creator and performer, was reluctant to use his spectacularly flexible voice to anything like its full extent. In fact, he initially rebelled against seizing the singer’s usual place, smack in the middle of the spotlight. “I felt likeContinue reading “The Shapeshifting Sounds of Gabriel Dharmoo”
Ayo Leilani Interrogates the Beats
“Eh Yo! Eh Yo, Leilani!,” she heard as she walked down a bustling New York City street. Turning around to see a friend calling out to greet her in the way that only the hip-hop generation can, Leilani (Hawaiian for “gift from the heavens”) realized she’d just found a captivating addition to her current name:Continue reading “Ayo Leilani Interrogates the Beats”
Three Literary Field Recordings
I. White Fang, Chapter I[1] A vast silence reigned over the land on every side was the silence, pressing upon them with a tangible presence a faint far cry arose on the still air. It soared upward with a swift rush, till it reached its topmost note, where it persisted, palpitant and tense, and thenContinue reading “Three Literary Field Recordings”
Aaron Oppenheim’s October 12, 2014 (excerpt)
October 12, 2014 (excerpt) is a recording of a live performance held in New York City on October 12, 2014 as part of ABC No Rio’s COMA Series, which presents experimental and improvised music. “This piece uses samples of voice for all of its material, manipulated in real time using my custom Max/MSP live instrument,”Continue reading “Aaron Oppenheim’s October 12, 2014 (excerpt)”